Growing Family . . .

As soon as we got back from CO on Sunday (12:30 PM), we headed to the hospital to see our newest nephew . . . isn't he cute?

Nathanael Tate Ritchie . . . born on Sunday, August 7th at 2:42 am. 7 lbs. 6.5 oz and 21 inches.

It was great getting to see all of David's family in CO as well. We got to see our new niece, Anwen Mae born on July 8th. As well as the other kids, Ciara 5, Aidan 3, and Riana 15 months. It was pretty much a zoo : )

Going West . . .

David & I are leaving on Sunday for Colorado. We are going out there this year to see his family, especially our new little niece (born July 8th) and all her siblings! I am looking forward to going to CO at a different time of the year than normal. Usually we only go at Christmas, so we aren't able to do some of the hiking, etc. that we enjoy. We decided a while back to check into going out there and to take the train. I'm not sure how that will go considering my current battle with queasiness, but this is the last week of my first trimester. So hopefully we will be fine. . . we'll find out : )

No new baby news to report. I go to the doctor again the Wednesday after we get back. I am hoping while I am there that they will schedule my sonagram. . . we are planning to find out! Of course if he/she cooperates : ) So hopefully by the end of August/first part of September I will have lots of fun things to share!

David is gone to camp this week . . . Illiana (or however you spell that). Matt Willis is one of the deans and David is doing music. . . and all for over 200 junior highers! I don't know who I should be more worried about rubbing off on each other : ) He gets home tomorrow, which will be wonderful! I don't really like being home all by myself.

Well I better be going . . . . take care!

Heartbeat . . .

Today at my doctor's appointment (David came with), we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. It was so exciting! I don't know, it just makes the whole thing so much more real . . . like, this is actually happening! There is actually a little human being growing inside of me! The whole concept just boggles my mind really . . . how God made our bodies to work and grow.

I get these emails each week from BabyCenter.com. You put in your due date and it generates this email telling you what kinds of things are happening inside of you each week and what kind of new things to expect. It always has a little drawing or illustration that shows what they think the baby looks like at the point in development. It is actually really interesting and helps you stay in tune with what is happening inside of you that you can't even see.

But the whole things just felt so much more real to actually know the baby's heart is beating and that he/she is doing well. I don't know there is just something so real, calming, exciting and somewhat overwhelming about it all! Though you can't tell I'm pregnant from looking, after today's visit I feel even more assured of everything even thought it was the second appointment!

Thank you God . . . we feel so blessed!

Baby News

So if you haven't already heard . . . . we're having a baby! We are due February 1st and are about 10 weeks along right now.

I have been feeling pretty good, a little queasy, but nothing too bad. Of course I do have terrible mood swings that David is learning to cope with. . . . one minute I'm biting his head off and the next I'm crying about something stupid! Oh the joys of hormones : )

Well I guess that is all the news to share right now. We go back to the dr. on Wednesday to hear the baby's heartbeat, which we are very excited about! David is going to go with me to that appointment!

I'll keep you updated.

We're Moved!

We got all closed and everything moved over to the new house. We left most things in the garage until we finish removing wallpaper and painting. So it has been a little challenging trying to locate things : ) We just feel so blessed to have this house . . . it is overwhelming! I'll have to try to figure out how to post pictures someday : )

Almost There!

We have been in a fury trying to get our house up to code and we still have more to do! The lady that is buying our house had to have a home inspection in order for her financing to go through. Well, she asked a friend from the church who she should have do it . . . and he said Amerispec! Come to find out they are the MOST picky home inspection company that exists in the whole world! So to say the last 2-3 weeks has been awful would be an understatement! We had like 10 things on the list that had to be repaired . . . and we're not talking little things either. An electrician had to come look at our electrical box and he said the entire panel had to be replaced . . . yes that would be $900. We had to reglase our windows (a process that I had never heard of until then). David had to dig a whole in our crawl space while on his hands and knees so there would be a sufficient ditch for it to drain. Etc, etc, etc. . . . you get the picture! Anyway, he came back today to reinspect after all of this work had been completed and he still didn't clear us! So we have MORE work to do . . . at least it is almost over! We close this week no matter what, but it sure would be nice to not have to come back to this house to finish these ridiculous projects! Hopefully we can get something worked out with the Rural Housing board. We need lots of prayers : )

Thanks for letting me vent . . . . that felt good!

Living in Camelot. . .

So we really have a house!!! YEAH!!!!!! We are so excited to announce that we will live (as of June 23rd) at 31 Galahad Drive. I know it sounds funny to say that we will live in Camelot, but that is the name of the subdivision. The streets are Arthur, Merlin, Guineverre. . . . you get the picture! I have only packed a few boxes, so I better get busy!

David & I will celebrate our 4th anniversary on Thursday! Can you believe it? It really does not seem like we have been married that long. It's crazy!

It has been a wierd weekend . . . . getting to see good friends that are moving far away, buying a new house . . . . all these life changes. I still don't feel like I should be the grown up sometimes : )

House Hunting . . . .

Well, David & I sold our house! It will be two weeks on Monday and we are VERY excited! We plan to stay in Rochester, but move to something with a little more space. All of our stuff is crammed into our tiny little house and we are so anxious to let it all spread out a bit. In fact, we had our eye on one in particular, but it was a little out of our price range and they weren't willing to go down. We were still holding on to hope until Wednesday when our realtor told us it finally sold : ( So sad . . . .
We looked a a couple other houses last week, but didn't really get a good feeling about any of them. . . . plus they weren't as spacious as were were hoping for. However, David jokingly made a comment to a friend of ours that we would love to buy their house. We didn't really think they would be interested . . . . but I think they are getting that way! So we went over and looked at it last night and plan to go back on Saturday evening just to be sure. But we are definitely planning on making them an offer!
It is in the "Camelot" subdivision, right next to the Jr High/High School in Rochester on Rt 29. It has all the things we were really hoping for . . . . so we are VERY excited. Our summer will be filled with painting . . . . and wallpaper removal : ) Fun, Fun!

I'M BACK!!

So now that the 15th has come and gone I have no excuses for being a blog slacker!

News to report . . . David is graduating from LCS on the 14th. I have started planning an open house for him at the church. My niece Claire is growing like a weed. I had a chance to see her on Tuesday (19th) and her cheeks are so chubby : ) And we will be having two more additions this year . . . David's sister is due in August (another boy) and David's brother's wife is due in July (yes, this would be number 4). We are going to head out to CO in August for vacation so we can see all of their kids, especially the new baby : )

We spent a long weekend in Chicago, which was absolutely wonderful!! We got tickets to Les Miserables on Saturday night, spent time shopping and took a jet boat ride from Navy Pier. It felt so good to just get away and relax!

Well that's all the excitement I have to report for know . . .

Happy Groundhog Day!

So the crazy groundhog saw his shadow. . . 6 more weeks of winter! I understand it's just some tradition we made up, but seriously how accurate can this little guy be? You should have seen all the freezing enthusiasts who gathered to watch little Phil!

Well, 6 more weeks of winter or not. . . the next 10 or so weeks of my life is pretty planned out! I guess it's ok if its winter for most of that since I will pretty much be here in my lovely office building : ) Yes, "Busy Season" is upon us once again . . . and oh how I grow eager for yet another tax season (this is my 3rd and hopefully last). I do love the paycheck though and that must be what keeps me coming back for more!

I am here also to confess that I will continue to be a deliquent blogger for the next few months! Of course it's not exactly like I have been very good at posting up to this point, but I just want to warn you that this post will remain for quite some time!

Take care and Happy Groundhog Day!

Heading to Colorado

Christmas isn't quite over for us yet. We are heading to CO on Wednesday for a week. I am so looking forward to getting away from the daily routine, which translated into getting away from my job! David's brother has 3 little ones that we only get to see at Christmas time, so we are anxious to see them. In fact, we have a niece that we haven't even met yet, Riana.

Hope you all have had a Merry Christmas and will have a wonderful New Year!

Be safe!

Dinner Theater Mania

Only 4 weeks until opening night . . . . ok I'm freaking myself out right now! For those of you that aren't familiar . . . our church does an annual Christmas dinner theater the first weekend of December. Of course, since David & I arrived at RCC they have looked a lot like a version of Christmas in the Chapel only with a meal. What do you expect when Jeff is your mentor. . . : )

I have been involved in the Choir every year . . . singing & dancing, which I love! And then I always find myself getting involved in designing & printing materials (i.e. posters/flyers, tickets, ticket folders, etc.). Since last year, we found out about a lady in our church that does graphic design for the State Journal Register! She took care of the general design and poster layout. Praise the Lord! So my only roller-coaster event was to get the tickets ready. I was doing great, until the tickets and the color copier/printer collided. That is when it all fell apart . . . and of course I started over-reacting about absolutely nothing. Thankfully, David is realtively patient and helped me cope. Needless to say, they all got printed and look awesome! In fact, they went on sale this past weekend and we already sold out one of the performances!!

Lots more details to get taken care of in the next few weeks . . . especially costumes! We are doing all matching formal costumes for the first and last number, choir robes for a couple numbers, and then the really fun one is a mall scene in 1984. We are each responsible to get our own costume for this number . . . any suggestions? I am hoping that Goodwill or another thift store will still be a little behind in the times and I can find something there! Maybe even some acid wash jeans : )

Colors of Autumn

I love fall . . . I love the changing colors AND I love beautiful fall days like yesterday. The sun was shining and it was cool, but not too cold, where you can wear a sweater and be comfortable. David has starting doing some amateur photography more as a hobby than anything. So yesterday we took advantage of the day . . . we went out to Lincoln Memorial Gardens. It is a wooded area with trails and bridges along part of Lake Springfield. . . . we stumbled across it this summer. And it was just wonderful . . . the colors were so rich. So we set up the tripod and started snapping away. We got some really great pictures of the two of us (our camera has a remote, which comes in handy). I love how God can make even dying leaves look magnificent! Kind of funny how He does that! : )

Almost 24 . . . .

So as I approach my 24th birthday, I have started reflecting on well . . . my life. God has truly blessed me with so much and I often forget to thank Him. I have a wonderful husband who loves me so much. We have a house, nice cars, good jobs . . . and a great church family. Though I still occassionally struggle with truly feeling a sense of belonging at RCC and in the community. God has also blessed me with 2 great nephews and 2 wonderful nieces. I love them so much! Oh, and I almost forgot . . . one on the way. . . though I don't know yet if he/she will be another nephew or niece. Well, anyway . . . I just love their free expression . . . Kids don't worry about who is watching or what kind of embarrassing things they're doing. It doesn't matter! And they are never shy about sharing how they feel or sharing their affection with you. I guess that is why I love playing with my nieces and nephews so much! Well . . . enough reflection for now . . .

Shooting

If any of you have seen the local news you know a security guard was shot and killed at the State Capitol Building in Springfield. I work directly accross from the Old State Capitol Building and a few blocks down from the new. It happened at 1:30 yesterday (9-20) afternoon and they didn't find the guy until 7:30 this morning (9-21). They had most of the buildings and schools in the area locked down much of the afternoon as they searched for the suspect. It was a 24 year old guy originally from Olney. We have shootings in Springfield every once in a while, but it is always in the bad neighborhoods. This one was a little scary!

Mrosko Studio

My sister's wedding proofs are finally on-line. If you click on the heading for this blog, put in 061104 as the password and browse away. They turned out pretty well. I am still learning how to post pictures on my blog, so bear with me.

Thanks!

Yeah, so what!

So I guess I'm still not handling the whole "my sister is having a baby before me" thing very well. You see we went down to good ole' TH this past weekend for the traditional Labor Day festivities. Part of which include a parade and lunch with some extended family. Naturally all anyone could ask about or even talk about was the new baby news. Well, I thought I was doing ok until the third or fourth person says . . . "so your sister is beating you by having a baby first". Unfortunately, the last guy that said that to me got to see my true ugliness . . . and that is when David and pretty much my whole family decided I wasn't dealing with this very well. Really, you think?!

Of course since David and I have been married for over 3 years we have been getting the "so, when are you guys going to have kids?" question more and more often. I just want to say, relax . . . we will have them when we are good and ready! We will have David's undergrad loans paid off in February and then he will graduate from the seminary in May. So things are starting to line up to start a family in the next year or so, but with all of the current baby excitement bubbling all over . . . I am not quite as excited as I was before!

Well, enough about my sob stories . . .

Yeah, ok so it's been 3 months : )

Yeah, ok so I'm the worst blogger ever . . . . it has been 3 months since my last entry. I would like to say that it will never happen again, but we all know that would be a lie.

This summer has been a complete whirlwind! The beginning of the summer was devoted to the preparation and exacution of my sister's wedding. And then the following months have been spent coping with a slight surprise . . . that she got pregnant on her honeymoon! Ok, so if your in complete and utter shock, please breath! Yes . . . she is due the second week of March. So it is safe to say that I have been through a variety of emotions this past couple of months. David & I are still sorting through our feelings about not having the first grandchild (on my side of the family), etc. But we just try to push those thoughts away as they are very selfish considering the situation. Both she & Brent still have a year and a half of classes and an internship left at LCC. So the road ahead of them will be a tough climb.

Aside from that summer excitement, David and I (along with my parents) spent a week in Virginia. It was a quaint area not too far from Charlottesville, VA at a resort called Shenandoah Crossing. There were a lot of different amentities (i.e. swimming pools, lake, paddleboats, fishing, mini golf, golf course, horseback riding, etc.) so it made for a nice relaxing time away. Just the break we needed . . . but of course as in any vacation it was not long enough!

Right now, we are focused on Christmas . . . in fact as soon as we got back from vacation we have been looking to Christmas. Our church does a Dinner Theater every year the first weekend in December. And this year, David decided he wanted to partner with another man from the church and write the show. He is still putting the final touchs on it, but so far it really turned out well.

Well, stay tuned for my on going sagas : ) Thanks for reading!

Here Comes The Bride . . .

So we survived the wedding . . . (Large sigh of relief) : )

As I mentioned in my first post, my only and younger sister Courtney got married to Brent Warner this past Friday night. The wedding was at our church in Rochester and the reception was in a big outdoor tent at the country club in Taylorville. Everything went really well . . . and thankfully it didn't rain : )

The only mini-crisis was the unexpected heat. We decorated for the reception on Friday morning and during the course of the day. . . the lavender chocolate-mint daisies looked like a big blob of purple. Thankfully, Katie and Amanda came to the rescue and fixed everything up for us!! THANKS LADIES!! Of course, the other issue was when the cake could be delivered. Luckily, they agreed to wait and bring it about a hour before we were to arrive.

The ceremony was pretty and rather entertaining. . . if you know my sister at all you know how excitable she can be. And how she knows no embarrassment. So she was hurrying the minister up so they could kiss and swinging and swooshing her dress all over the place. Brent was a crying, snotty mess most of the service, but made it through his song wonderfully! At one point, he reached for his shredded, used tissue and blew his nose, responding with "Yuh, that was disgusting"outloud. : ) But it was fun and done in their own unique style : ) No one would have expected anything else. . .

They left the reception for Sunset Suites in Clinton and left Saturday for Pigeon Forge, TN. Our family is getting together on Father's Day for them to open their gifts.

Check back this week--I am hoping to have some pictures posted.

OK . . . so this is my first attempt that this whole blogging thing . . .

My sister's wedding is coming up in less than two weeks (Friday, June 11th). I love this time . . . you have worked hard to plan and prepare and now you are getting to see how it all pulls together! I love all those yucky details . . . maybe I am a little weird, but I love them! However, my sister doesn't! I think I about drove her crazy this weekend asking a million questions, Have you thought about the order? Who is doing this? How will this work? By the end I think she was ready to pull my hair out! : ) However, I must say, planning this wedding has helped us get along better than we have in our whole lives . . . who knew a wedding could do that!

As I help my sister with her wedding, the feelings of excitement and anticipation I felt three years ago all come back. I can't even believe that tomorrow will be three years since David and I were married. The past three years have been full of changes and transitions along with its own set of challenges. I know more challenges lie ahead, but I wouldn't want to experience them with any one else!

We are going to go out and celebrate on Friday . . . he has some surprised planned and won't tell me anything! : )